Judgment Days: Civil Rights Era of 1960s
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In Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws That Changed America Nick Kotz provides a fascinating account of the turbulent Civil Rights era of the 1960s, focusing on the relationship between President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Martin Luther King, Jr. Using newly available telephone conversations, FBI wiretaps, nearly 200 interviews and other resources, Kotz provides an account of how King, the moralist, and Johnson, the wily politician, successfully pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1968 and the 1965 Voting Rights Act through a reluctant Congress. However, KotzÆ main contention is that JohnsonÆs reputation among the American public is largely viewed as one of an ôaverageö president. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. KotzÆ work demonstrates that with respect to Civil Rights, the normal roles associated with King (the moralist) and Johnson (the wily and self-serving politician) were reversed. Though unlikely partners, Kotz (Front Matter) maintains Johnson and King ôcame to work together in a political pas de deux of immense complexity and fragility to produce the most dramatic social change since the Emancipation Proclamation.ö Far from an average President, JohnsonÆs achievements make him a near-great President whose ultimate greatness was undermined by an American public unwilling to go too far and too fast on Civil Rights and the costly quagmire of the Vietnam War. This analysis will dem
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with Communist attempts to undermine American society, often authorized wiretaps and other surveillance operations against King. Though King was not a Communist, these operations did reveal the minister had carried on more than one affair. Hoover wanted to publish these revelations but Johnson fought his efforts to do so, even though there were times when Johnson encouraged HooverÆs efforts to gain leverage in his relationship with King. Kotz (246; 218) suggests that ôIn terms of violating civil liberties, the FBIÆs war against the Klan was just as ruthless as its campaigns against targeted civil-rights activists,ö and that had the FBI made one mistake Johnson would have had ôhis own Watergate.ö
The forces that often drove Johnson and King apart, including HooverÆs machinations, different ideas about the direction of Civil Rights progress, and even their own considerable egos, were not as strong as the forces that made Johnson and King draw together in an unlikely alliance to push Civil Rights legislation through Congress. King became the political strategist whose demonstrations, stirring rhetoric, and ability to use civil rights to stir the nationÆs conscience were matched by JohnsonÆs behind the scenes work in Congress wher
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1705
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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